Chapter 288: Kill seven million taels in one battle
However, just halfway through, he encountered a furious He Luohui.
"Master, it's broken." He Luohui said with a dark face, "Taojiadian Ferry Pier and the fishing boats we collected were all burned by Ming Gou. Moreover, Ming Gou Navy blocked the river and was using cannons.
They are attacking us."
"Damn it!" Dorgon said angrily, "This is bullying us because we don't have a red cannon."
Dorgon's slave-building army really didn't have any Red Yi cannons. When Dorgon brought his army to Germany, he never thought about fighting a tough battle, so he didn't bring the Red Yi cannons.
As a result, the Hongyi cannons left on the west bank of the Yellow River were destroyed by the Ming army.
The Hongyi cannons left on the east coast have been taken to Shandong by Duduo.
"Master, what should we do now?" He Luohui asked again.
"Go upstream to find a ferry to cross the river." Dorgon said with a dark face, "I don't believe that the Ming Navy can keep following us upstream. There will always be river beaches that they can't get to."
There is no navy or Hongyi artillery, so we can only take a detour.
Dorgonle turned his horse's head and turned onto the official road leading to Zhongmou.
But after walking a few steps, Dorgon couldn't help but look back in the direction of Xuzhou, and swore in his heart, Chongzhen, I, Dorgon, will come back to kill you, just wait!
…
Chongzhen lay lazily on the soft couch.
Listening to Zhu Cixiang reporting to him the battle losses in the Battle of Xuzhou.
The Xuzhou War, which determined the fate of the Ming Dynasty, had officially ended. Chongzhen's heart that was hanging in the air finally fell back into his stomach. He suddenly felt lazy and didn't even want to move a finger.
Zhu Cihong opened the account book and read: "Father, from the outbreak of the war at the end of February to today, in the Battle of Xuzhou, a total of more than 8,000 generals of our army have been killed, and a total of 107 soldiers have been killed.
More than 300 people were killed, including more than 1,600 naval officers and soldiers, and more than 30,000 wounded."
"The people of Xuzhou suffered more than 50,000 casualties in total, including more than 10,000 deaths."
"A total of three Hongyi cannons, nine Folan cannons, forty-seven tiger squat cannons, more than 800 bird cannons, three-eyed cannons and Lumi cannons were lost, and a total of more than 9,000 pieces of armor were damaged.
About more than two thousand."
"Also, more than 10,000 bamboo poles and spears were damaged, and more than a thousand waist knives were damaged."
"In addition, a total of 180,000 jins of lime and about 20,000 jins of gunpowder were consumed."
"The consumption is about 8,000 barrels of gold juice, about 6,000 sets of fishing nets, and about 800 catties of pepper."
Zhu Cixiang wanted to continue reading, but was interrupted by Chongzhen: "Okay, no need to read anymore, how much silver are the values of all these lost materials? Have you calculated it?"
"Father, I probably made an estimate just now."
Zhu Cixiang nodded and said: "The total amount does not exceed one hundred thousand taels of silver."
"Less than one hundred thousand taels?" Chongzhen was a little surprised, "It's much less than pensions and bounties."
"Yes." Zhu Cixiang nodded and said, "Just the pension for those who died in battle is almost five hundred thousand taels. As for the bounty, the final results have not yet been calculated, but there are 3,000 real slaves, 5,000 Han troops plus 20,000
The wrapping is only a lot more, and the total of these bounties is at least 400,000."
"That means the one million taels of silver is gone?"
Zhu Cijiong was speechless and said: "War is really a waste of money, and Huai'an Prefecture hasn't even calculated it yet."
Zhu Cixiang nodded and said: "If you include Huai'an Mansion, it is estimated that even two million taels can't stop it. After all, Yan Yingyuan has already burned down the west city of Shanyang."
Chongzhen shook his head and said, "You guys, the bulk of the expenses haven't been calculated yet."
"Big head?" Zhu Cixiang was stunned for a moment, and then his face changed drastically and he said, "Father, are you talking about the military pay of the soldiers in the border town?"
"War pay?" Zhu Cijiong also changed his face and said, "The border troops in Xuzhou Thirty Town are compared with the pay in Liao Town. The sitting pay is 2 taels per ding per month, and the war pay is tripled to 6 taels!"
"The total number of border troops in Thirty Towns is 160,000."
"A month's salary is 960,000 yuan!"
After a pause, Zhu Cijiong said with a dark face: "The Battle of Xuzhou started in February, and it is now June. It lasted for five months. The total salary required is 4.8 million taels!"
"Four.8 million?!" Both brothers were frightened.
"Doesn't this mean that seven million taels of silver were lost in one battle?"
"Now do you know how expensive war is?" Chongzhen actually laughed.
"Compared with the loss of grain, grass, ordnance and various military supplies, salary expenditure is the real big factor! Our Ming Dynasty's national finance was dragged down by Liao's salary."
"What can we do?" Zhu Cijiong asked anxiously, "The 160,000 frontier troops have brought down our Ming Dynasty's treasury. In the future, the Northern Expedition will not be able to afford an army of four to five million, or even millions? We simply cannot afford it!"
Zhu Cihong also said: "Relying on the exchange to issue bonds is not a long-term solution."
"Then what do you think we should do?" Chongzhen joked, "Debt?"
"That's definitely not possible." Zhu Cixiang said solemnly, "Father, you must never default on your debt."
Zhu Cijiong also said: "Father, I always teach my eldest brother, and I have five younger brothers. If a person has no faith, he will not stand..."
"Okay, let's see how anxious you are." Chongzhen said angrily, "Father is just joking with you."
After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "But how to pay? We really have to do a good job of totaling it. We will definitely not be able to pay the money directly to the soldiers in the border towns. We can only divide the fields with them."
"Divide the fields?" Zhu Cihong said, "Father, do you mean to use the fields as payment?"
"That's right, use the land as payment for wages." Seeing the two brothers Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong thinking seriously, Chongzhen felt quite relieved. After nearly a year of painstaking teaching, he was finally able to help advise on some things that were inconvenient for ministers to participate in.
, for example, the official land in Xuzhou was used as salary and bounty to be given to Shanyang Xiangyong and the border troops in Xuzhou.
Even the Qinwang scholar cannot participate in this kind of thing.
Because the interests involved here are so great that no one can remain indifferent.
How many officials can there be in the world who can stick to their original aspirations like Ma Mingluan?
What's more, it's unclear whether Ma Mingluan can still hold on to his original intention as he did at the beginning.
"Not only the salaries of the soldiers in the border towns, but also the bounties of the local braves can also be offset by official fields."
Chongzhen said: "Now that Jiannu has decided to withdraw its troops, I believe that from now on no one will doubt whether our Ming Dynasty can hold the Huanghuai defense line. At this time, the official land in Xuzhou and even Guide, let alone five taels of silver per acre,
Even if it costs ten taels of silver per acre, there will be countless people rushing to buy it. I will give 2 taels of silver per acre to the border town soldiers and Huai'an Prefecture warriors. I believe no one will refuse. In this way, Xuzhou has four million acres of official land.
It can pay for ten million taels of silver!"
"The salary of 4.8 million taels is only half of it."
After a pause, Chongzhen said with a smile: "All the losses suffered by Huai'an Prefecture and Xuzhou in this war are enough to make up for it, and there is still a lot of surplus."
Zhu Cixiang frowned and said, "But Father, what should I do with the first bond issue?"
Just mid-sentence, Zhu Cixiang suddenly reacted and continued: "Has Deputy Director Ma already bought back all the first-issue bonds at a low price?"
Chongzhen said with a smile: "Even if we don't buy them all, there won't be much left."
Zhu Cixiang said with great joy: "In this case, it will be no problem to use the four million acres of official land in Xuzhou as payment for wages and bounties, and even more can be used as payment for the people's young crops."
"Speaking of young crop money." Chongzhen asked with a smile, "A total of 200 million kilograms of young crop money were collected?"
Zhu Cixi corrected him: "Father, the total is 240 million jins. Later, the remaining green seedlings on the north bank were collected, so there were 40 million more jins of green seedlings."
"Speaking of this young crop, Father, the price you set is really too high."
Zhu Cijiong complained: "One hundred catties is one tael, and 240 million catties is 2.4 million taels of silver!"
"Is it set high?" Chongzhen asked Zhu Cihong with a smile, "Xin'er, do you think your father set it high?"
"It actually doesn't make any difference whether the price is high or low." Zhu Cixiang said with a smile, "Because even if we don't have these millions of taels of young crops, my father will still give the land to the people of Xuzhou in vain."
For the people who fled from Beizhi and Shandong and came to Xuzhou, the court would definitely allocate fields to them for farming.
So even if there is no money for young crops, the court still has to allocate fields. Now it has just changed the form, from allocating fields for free to letting people use money for young crops to buy fields. There is essentially no difference.
Tapping his fingers lightly on the soft couch, Chongzhen said thoughtfully: "My father is thinking about another question now. Should we take this opportunity to retire the Thirty Town border troops from active service?"
It's no longer possible if I don't retire.
We really can't afford to support these frontier troops.
"What? Let the Thirty Town border troops retire from active service?"
Brothers Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong were shocked. How could this happen?
Zhu Cixiang said: "Father, if all the border troops retire, who will be responsible for guarding the Huanghuai defense line?"
"Of course it's still the 160,000 frontier soldiers." Chongzhen said, "Although the border town has been withdrawn, these 160,000 soldiers still live in Xuzhou. Once the slaves invade south, the Huanghuai defense line will still have to rely on them."
"Hmm." When Zhu Cihong heard this, he somewhat understood Chongzhen's intention.
"What my father means is to get rid of the big burden of the thirty-year-old frontier army, and at the same time, it is not able to shake the Huanghuai defense line. The price paid is two million acres of official land in Xuzhou."
"It's not two million acres, it's four million acres!" Chongzhen waved his hand and said.
"With salary and bounty, 160,000 frontier troops will be allocated twenty-five acres of land each!"
"Also, all taxes, official taxes, corvees and small silver are exempted. However, when the Ming Dynasty was invaded by foreign enemies, each household had to contribute one small soldier to fight for the country."
"Father, isn't this the military household system of Grand Ancestor Taizu?" Zhu Cihong said, "The problems of the military household system are not small. Those military households have become slaves of the generals and are being squeezed very miserably."
"This is not a military household system, because there are no 100-household offices, 1000-household offices or guardhouses." Chongzhen shook his head, "There are only Lijia, and the Lijia and Jia chiefs are only responsible for communication. Only the emperor has the power to recruit these militiamen.
, when there is a war, they are commanded by the governor, and usually they are scattered in the countryside as ordinary people, and their heirs can also take the imperial examination."